Honestly, if you only know the Duchess of Sussex from her royal engagements or her time on Suits, you probably picture her with that signature "rich girl" blowout. You know the one—perfectly smooth, slightly bent at the ends, and looking like it’s never met a drop of humidity. But here’s the thing: that’s not her natural texture. Not even close.
Meghan Markle hair curly is the real deal. We’re talking 3B or 3C territory. High-volume, springy, beautiful curls that she’s been straightening, relaxing, or keratin-treating for the better part of two decades.
It’s kinda wild when you look at the old photos. There’s this one famous shot of her at eleven years old, posing next to a friend at Hollywood's Little Red School House. Her hair is a massive, glorious puff of ringlets. It’s light-years away from the sleek buns she wore at Buckingham Palace.
Why We Rarely See the Curls
So, why the shift? It wasn't just a sudden whim. For a long time, Hollywood and the "professional" world had a very narrow idea of what "neat" hair looked like. If you were an actress in the mid-2000s, like Meghan was during her Deal or No Deal days, the pressure to have sleek, manageable hair was intense.
Basically, she traded the ringlets for a flat iron.
By the time she landed the role of Rachel Zane on Suits, her hair was her calling card, but it was always styled into those "undone waves" or pin-straight layers. Her former hairstylist, Theonie Kakoulli, eventually let the cat out of the bag: Meghan regularly got keratin treatments.
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These aren't your typical perm-style chemicals. Keratin treatments (often called Brazilian blowouts) don't necessarily kill the curl forever, but they "infuse" the hair with protein to kill frizz and make the hair heavy enough to hang straight. It’s why, even when she’s in a humid climate like Fiji or South Africa, her hair doesn't instantly poof up.
But if you look closely at photos from her more "relaxed" moments—like in the Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary—you can see the texture fighting to come back. There are shots of her with her hair freshly washed and thrown into a bun, and you can see that tell-tale "frazzle" or ripple at the roots. It’s the sign of a curly girl who is about three weeks overdue for a salon appointment.
The Struggle is Real (Even for Duchesses)
In her 2022 podcast Archetypes, Meghan actually got pretty real about her hair. She talked to Mariah Carey about being a mixed-race girl and how difficult it was to find people who actually knew how to handle her texture.
"She would say, 'Hold on to the sink,' and I would grip the sides with my little hands," Meghan recalled, describing her grandmother Jeanette trying to brush through her thick curls.
Every curly-haired person felt that in their soul. The "grip the sink" method is a universal rite of passage.
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It's sort of a shame we don't see the curls more often. There was a huge wave of excitement on Twitter back in 2017 when fans dug up her high school yearbook photos. People were calling it "Black Princess Magic." There’s a specific kind of representation that happens when a woman in that high of a position embraces her natural texture.
However, we have to acknowledge the reality. The British tabloids were already pretty brutal to her. Many stylists and commentators have pointed out that if she had stepped out with a full-blown afro or her natural 3C curls, the "unprofessional" or "messy" critiques from the press would have been dialed up to an eleven.
The Current Routine: Keeping It Smooth in 2026
Since moving back to California, her look has shifted slightly. It’s less "stiff royal" and more "Monteciteo chic." But the "Meghan Markle hair curly" state is still managed with a very specific arsenal of products.
She’s a known devotee of the Kérastase Oleo-Relax line. It’s basically the gold standard for anyone trying to keep thick, curly hair from expanding in the heat. She also uses the Wella Professionals Oil Reflections Luminous Oil. She once told Beauty Banter that it "smells like vacation" and makes the hair touchable.
If you're trying to replicate her smooth look but have her natural texture, here's what the pros who worked with her actually did:
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- Prep with Volume: Use something like Serge Normant Dream Big Volumizing Spray at the roots. Even though she wants it smooth, she hates flat hair.
- The "Bend" Technique: Use a large-barrel curling iron to add one single "S" wave in the middle of the hair, leaving the ends straight. This prevents it from looking like a pageant hairstyle.
- Edge Control: This is the big one. To hide the curly roots when she wears a bun, her stylists use edge gel. Recently, she’s been linked to the Lottabody Control Me Edge Gel—a budget-friendly $7 buy that keeps those "baby hairs" from curling up.
What You Can Actually Do With This
If you have hair like Meghan's, the takeaway isn't that you have to straighten it. It’s that even a Duchess has to put in a massive amount of work to fight nature.
If you want the Meghan look, go for the keratin. It’s a game-changer for manageability. But if you want to honor the original Meghan—the girl from the pigtail photos—the move is to lean into the moisture.
Next Steps for Your Own Texture Journey:
- Analyze your "New Growth": If you’ve been heat-styling for years, look at the hair closest to your scalp. If it’s wavy or coily, you likely have a Type 3 texture that is just thirsty for moisture.
- Swap your towel: Meghan's stylists often emphasize "gentle" drying. Use a microfiber towel or an old cotton T-shirt to squeeze water out. Never rub. Rubbing creates the frizz that leads people to think their hair is "unmanageable."
- Invest in a "Silk" Finisher: Whether it's the BioSilk Therapy she used for her Vanity Fair cover or a high-end oil, curly hair needs an occlusive layer to keep the cuticle closed.
Meghan's hair story is really a story about identity and the choices women make to fit into certain spaces. Whether she's rocking a $275 blowout from Highbrow Hippie or a messy bun with curly roots showing, she’s proven that "royal hair" doesn't have to be one-size-fits-all.